Studies of Advancing Apartment Complexes
by Teddy'sTwin
Summary: Annie, Troy and Abed and their escapades off screen are getting more and more epic- and, in Annie and Abed's case, more... awesome? As they both figure out what this awesome thing is that they have going for them, they realize that their awesome thing would not only work, but be cool. Cool, cool, cool.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: For the fact that Community just premiered. And that I love Annie and Abed. **

Chapter 1

It was Annie Edison's first summer living with Troy and Abed, and it had been one of her best summers yet.

Sure, while they'd only had a month and a week of summer because of summer school, she couldn't complain. They had three more weeks, and for the first time ever, she was not counting down the days until a new semester started, or planning the fastest routes from one class to the next. She hadn't even skimmed through all of her textbooks yet.

And what was weirder is that she could have cared less.

Right now she was happily sitting between the guys as they watched the last bit of their movie, not really paying attention to their conversation about whether the X-Box, the PS2, or the Wii was the best gaming system, because while Abed was on the fence on all three, Troy was pro X-Box, if they bought a Live account. Annie listened without any comment as all three of them blew off the movie. And even though the guys weren't watching the movie, they would see it through until the end of the credits.

Because that's how the guys were.

And they were the reason she cared less about school.

At first, while moving in with Troy and Abed had been ridiculously fun, they hadn't exactly let her into their clique.

Which she totally understood now.

They were the definition best friends, and she was the girl that they hung out with in the group. But ever since she and Abed's little "episode" in the Dreamatorium they had let her in a bit more, bits at a time, now to the point where they let her rap with them, or invited her to premieres of movies like the Dark Knight Rises so long as she dressed up as Catwoman.

They even let her help pick movies when they didn't know what they wanted to watch, though that was rare, and tolerated her favorite shows when she wanted to watch them(though there were only a few).

Abed had even come and sat to watch with her on occasion, that's how awesome he was. Troy and Abed had taken to educating her on certain movies and TV shows so that way she wouldn't always be out of the loop when they made jokes or pop culture references. And, they promised to invite her to their next game of Blazer Tag.

The credits were rolling.

The guys noticed just as the last logos at the end appeared.

Troy yawned, stretched. Annie watched Abed closely. Though to the untrained eye he never was tired, Troy had taught her the signs. And he was featuring a few of them. Blinking, staring at the menu screen, as though he were pondering something, but his stare was too blank. They were sleepy.

Excellent.

It was time for them to go to bed, then, to their bedroom, since the blanket fort had been replaced by the once Dreamatorium room.

Even without the Dreamatorium, since they had taken it down after Evil Abed's attempt at ruining their timeline, the guys had somehow rigged the entire house to be their playroom now.

And though Annie liked to keep it clean and orange paint tape free, and liked to keep forks out of walls and out of people's sides, she was willing to give it her all in Nerf Gun battles and using toothpaste as war paint (which was painful so they had only done it once), see how many sour patch kids they could stuff into each other's mouths, toast in the shower pranks, heck all of the pranks.

Like the one she was about to pull.

Sure she had to wait a few hours to get started so they would be fully in their REM cycle, but she could wait. She was patient.

Because pranking had taken over their apartment.

It had happened when summer school had ended.

And it was so time for pay back.

So she watched them enter their room, exhausted. She had been the one that had insisted on movie night so late, had taken too long of a shower on purpose, had lounged about making her portion of dinner, so it had been even later.

Excessive? Maybe.

Worth it? Oh it was so going to be.

"Annie."

Abed startled her out of her conniving.

"Yes?" she replied curtly. Too curtly.

Abed tilted his head.

Oh no. What if he found her out now, at this stage in the game?

"Should you brush your teeth first, or should I?"

Phew! Close call!

"You go first," she sighed, relieved.

"Are you sure? Normally you go first."

"Oh," Annie furrowed her brow. She couldn't break pattern, not with Abed scrutinizing her, "Right. Yeah! I'm gonna go first."

"But I thought you said-."

"Changed my mind," she told him, almost too forcefully, heading towards the bathroom with too much bounce.

She was going to get caught for sure.

Annie pulled out her tooth brush from her hide out, and started the process of getting ready for bed.

She was too antsy.

It was time for patience.

She had to remember that, she reminded herself as she spit into the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror, and found bags under her eyes.

And maybe a few hours of sleep.

Annie slumped back to her room, teeth and face squeaky clean.

"You done with the bathroom?"

Why was Abed catching her so off guard tonight?

It had to be the tension.

It was going to be such a good prank.

"Yep," she said too easily, and wondered if it made her sound guilty at all. The way that Abed kept looking at her made her think it was. "Um, yes," she grinned, giving a thumbs up. Still too guilty and still five feet from the door. "Yep." Two feet away and those eyes were so unrelenting, "Yeppers." She was in her room, she could hide behind her door. Safety! Finally! "Yepper-ooney," she added faintly, giving one last thumbs up.

She shut the door behind her.

He knew-

No. No. No he didn't.

She was tired. It was late. Every excuse to act weird right?

He didn't know there was a prank.

Everything was going to be fine.

She just needed a few hours of sleep.

Annie put her phone on vibrate, set an alarm, stuck it under her pillows, and counted a few sheep, and told herself that if she didn't wake up when the alarm went off she would kick herself in the bu…

Sleep took her. Maybe she had been more tired than she thought.

But then-

The alarm went off.

She felt her pillow hum against her face.

She woke up.

And smiled.

Time for pay back.

She had picked a black outfit, and had gathered her supplies: a pair of handcuffs, a bottle of honey, twine, plastic wrap, a bucket full of feathers, speakers, zip ties, and a box of Legos. She smiled to herself as she looked to the boy's bedroom door.

Because they had gotten her last. And they were good.

For example, it had been raining a few weeks ago. When Annie had made to go to babysit Shirley's kids, she had grabbed her raincoat and umbrella, and headed for her car. When she opened up her umbrella over her head, flour had exploded, cascading around her in the lobby. She stared out into the rain for half a moment, spluttering flour dust and blinking the white powder out of her eyelashes, before she twisted her mouth.

Those boys were SO going to get it.

Of course, the flour had to be in retaliation of the cake fight she'd initiated. She'd made them cake "for no reason," which had been cause of worry. Troy had been concerned about food poisoning to the point of it killing them, but Abed had explained Annie was a normally non-violent person, and that it had to be something else. Annie insisted it had been cake innocently made. Finally, the only option was to eat it to discover what had been done to it, but as they ate it, she cried out, "I think I see something in your cake!" They both looked down in unison- she pushed their plates right into their faces. That had, of course, resulted in a massive cake fight, where the apartment had ended up one sticky mess, and they had all been sufficiently smeared with the stuff, laughing together on the tile floor.

This whole thing hadn't been started by her, though they insisted it had been. Troy had replaced the lotion in her bottle with mayonnaise on purpose and she hadn't meant to turn all of Troy's whites pink! She hadn't seen her red bra in there- he shouldn't have asked her to do his laundry darn it! It wasn't her fault!

And initially it had been just her verses Troy. This had consisted of her putting a rat on his bunk in his room, and him hanging her lingerie out in the lobby for everyone to see (those had been more vindictive times). And she was still missing her favorite red bra, the one that had ruined Troy's whites.

But when Abed had used one of Troy's towels instead of one of his own, and there had been blue Kool-Aid powdered onto the towel, so when he had dried off, he had inserted himself into the pranking game.

He had come out in the same towel to both Annie and Troy, who had been eating their breakfast with thinly veiled animosity, looking like a Smurf, causing Annie to choke on her Cheerios and Troy to spew his Lucky Charms everywhere.

He stared at them, and if anyone else but those two had been in the room, they would have thought that he sounded like a robot, but both Annie and Troy balked as he said impassively, "I just wanted you two to know, that before while I thought that this game was maybe a good idea for a backsplash comedic arc in the series for a season or two that I would sit back and watch while you two hashed it out, this is now something I'm going to be participating in and it'll only last for less than a season until one of us or all three of us does something awkward enough for it to take up an entire episode and stop." He turned back to the bathroom, and walked through the door, before popping out again and pointing at them, "And you two better watch your backs."

He shut the bathroom door.

They stared at where he'd been moments before blankly, when Troy turned to her.

"You were going to turn me blue? That would have been _awesome_!"

Abed had gotten back at them the very next day. He'd tied a rope around each of their door handles, leaving enough slack that they could poke their faces through and yell at one another and at him, as he sat in his bathrobe and ate his breakfast in between them nonchalantly, watching each of them go back and forth like a tennis match.

Ever since Abed had joined, though, the pranks had become less embarrassing, and it had become more of a pastime between the three of them. Without school Annie found herself staying up late planning pranks instead of studying.

Of course, though it had started out as every man for themselves, Abed and Troy had soon started teaming up more frequently. Like framing her door with newspaper and then filling the gap between the door and newspaper with packing peanuts so that when she opened the door the packing peanuts avalanched into her room.

But it was alright. She had more than enough ways to get back at them.

In the middle of the night, she had snuck out to Abed's DVD collection, and had mismatched DVD cases with their DVDs. So when Abed went to pop in Batman Begins, he gotten season one disc three of Mad Men. That had freaked him out so bad he'd nearly had a break down. But he'd soon gotten revenge.

She also replaced their candy cigarettes with real cigarettes. The result had been satisfying.

Of course, they had woken her up one morning with a, "Annie, are you up? School starts in like fifteen minutes!" She had scrambled out of bed, freaking out because she hadn't even laid out her clothes or packed her bag or thought of a decent breakfast to eat or anything! When she'd come running out, still pulling on her shoes with one hand and frantically holding her hair up so she could use the bobby pins she'd stuck in her mouth and found them both sitting there, in their recliners that they'd lined up to watch her door with smug smiles on their faces, she had jabbed at them with her bobby pins until they'd tactically retreated into their bedroom.

It had escalated since then. After all, it had been going on all summer break. And though they were good, she was better. She was going to prove it once and for all.

On the down side, she was getting pretty paranoid though. She double checked everything she ate, since she didn't want her mouth dyed purple again, she kept most of her things in her room, locked at all times for various reasons, and she was always looking over her shoulder in case they tried to freak her out with that gorilla suit again.

But because of it, the boy's pranks had become less frequent, and more extreme.

And it was her turn.

She was almost done. The zip ties were tied, the legos were set out neatly and perfectly-. Everything had gone smoothly thus far. She was almost ready to breathe a sigh of relief. Almost. Not yet.

She was putting the last of the plastic wrap over the door, giddy with excitement. She was SO getting them back. And the sun was just beginning to rise.

The plastic wrap was secure.

Time to initiate pay back.

She sat lazily in a recliner, pulled out her iPod, and connected it to the speakers.

And let the good times roll.

"Gimme Gimme Gimme" by ABBA blared into life, rocking the apartment complex. (Ever since the Halloween two years ago they'd all had somewhat of a fear of anything ABBA playing too loudly if they weren't mentally prepared. Thank goodness she'd built up an immunity to it.)

She watched them leap out of bed, Troy jumping down from his bunk to the floor as though ready to fight a horde of zombies or something. He saw Annie smiling at him, and she threw in a wave, before pointing to the time.

The clock read 5:52 AM.

Troy shouted his horror. "NO! Five o'clock only comes once a day! Only o-uh-uh-uhnce!" he cried.

By now Abed had sat up- and knocked the honey right onto his head. She giggled as the goo seeped into his hair, dripped down his face- and he discovered that his hands were cuffed together as he tried to wipe it away.

"Abed!"

"I'm ok," Abed said, tasting the dribbling honey that was now dribbling over his eyes, "Just sticky. And she handcuffed me."

"And I've got the key," chimed Annie, holding it up for them both to see.

Troy turned back from watching the damage done to Abed, "Bad choice, Annie-."

Abed was licking his face, unable to see due to the honey, and was unable to warn Troy as he ran full tilt-

Into the invisible plastic wrap she'd taped over the open doorway on the door frame.

He bounced right off of it, stumbling backwards, and stared at the door in confusion, and then at Annie, "You created a force field?!"

Abed had wiped a good deal of the honey from his eyes with his cuffed hands, though his eyelashes were still sticking together, "She used plastic wrap."

"Oh!" he made the connection in his head, "You think you got the best of me?" He made to run at it again-

"Troy!" Abed directed, standing awkwardly (lack of balance from hands being cuffed together) and handing him an Exact-o knife, "Use slice. It'll be more effective."

Troy grinned evilly up at Annie, before replying, "Gotcha."

It was time for Annie to run.

She leapt up from her chair just as the guys cut through the plastic wrap.

Troy ran through first- and ran right onto the patch of Legos she'd laid out on the floor in front of their door.

He stumbled down onto his knees, crippled by the pain, howling, "The pain!"

Abed nimbly leapt over Troy and the Lego trap as Annie dashed into the kitchen, stuffing the key in her bra as she went.

She was making for the bathroom, her safe zone, where her last prank was. She reached out for the bucket as she heard Abed behind her, and with a triumphant, "HA!" she spun around and tossed the bucket's contents onto his head.

The feathers flew in front of his face, sticking to him, making him stop just long enough that she was able to run into the bathroom and almost shut the door behind her. Almost.

Abed wedged half of himself through just in time- he was so skinny! And he was wiggling his way through far too persistently.

No! Her plan was failing!

"Go away!" she threatened, pressing herself into the door to keep him from invading.

"So you can lock yourself indefinitely in the bathroom while we are stuck on the outside?" Abed wondered aloud, before frowning, "No."

"Abed! Get- _out_!" she shoved hard against door.

Abed called flatly, "Troy, I need back up."

"I'm comin'!" Troy shouted and Annie heard his feet pounding towards the door.

Annie's eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen, "No wait-!" She stepped back from it just in time as-

Troy slammed himself through the door.

Annie fell backwards, pieces of door scattering around her.

Her head smacked on the tile, door shrapnel flying everywhere and there was Troy, in slow motion, flying to her left, eyes wide and mouth open in terror, arms snatching at nothing to try and catch himself-

Something slammed into her, on top of her, and knocked the air from her lungs.

Abed was staring at her face- Abed, with honey dripping from his long nose and feathers instead of hair, and she wanted to smile, because it was so ridiculous.

But she couldn't breathe.

She couldn't breathe!

Abed cocked his head at her, "Are you alright?"

"Ugh, I hit my face on the tub," Troy groaned, sitting up on his elbows. "How about you?"

She really couldn't breathe-

"I think something's wrong with Annie," Abed said, brows furrowing as he stared at her, "She looks like a fish out of water."

"No, more like-," but Troy stopped himself, "Hey, hey Abed. Get off of her."

He tilted his head at Troy, "Why?"

"No, seriously, get off of her- she can't breathe-," Troy was grabbing at Abed's pajama top.

"Oh," Abed looked down at Annie analytically, "That makes sense." He pushed away from her, before suggesting, "You should sit up."

"Hee hee who, hee hee who," Troy said soothingly as he and Abed helped her to sit up.

No breathing- no air.

Abed looked over at Troy, "That's for women in labor."

"Oh. Right." Troy nodded, confused momentarily, before shouting, "Breathe Annie breathe!"

But she couldn't- and she couldn't think- and it was freaking her out-

" Try and breathe slowly. Stop panicking," Abed told her, patting her on the back until-.

She gasped aloud.

Her lungs had opened up again.

Air, glorious air.

"Whew!" Troy sounded so relieved. "Annie I thought you were gonna die!"

"Actually people can go without air for six minutes without dying," Abed told him matter of factly, before turning to Annie, "Are you alright?" Abed wanted to know, pulling a stray feather out of her hair.

"Yeah," she nodded to the two of them, blinking around at them, "Yeah I'm fine."

She looked to Troy, and then to Abed, who still was covered in honey and feathers.

And then the three of them busted up laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

~ Annie ~

Annie wiped away the steam from the mirror in the bathroom in a circle, before smiling at her wavy reflection and began to hum to herself, combing her fingers through her wet hair.

The guys had gone out together for the morning.

Which meant she was at liberty to do as she pleased.

She could watch a chick flick and eat her bowl of cheerios in the process without interruption, which she had done. She could run quick to the grocery store for milk and come back without fearing coming home and finding the guys stabbing each other with cutlery, which she had done. She could take a long shower and use up all the hot water, and sing at the top of her lungs, which she had done, without having Troy complain that the bathroom now smelled like a girl. And now, she was going to get dressed, and let her hair air dry while she curled up in a recliner and read her book without having to worry about the guys busting out of their bedroom after battling Blorgons.

Satisfied, she wrapped her towel around herself, and still humming, she walked out of the bathroom, pushing her way past the sheet they were using as a temporary door since the last escapade had resulted in a busted door and frame. She was half holding her towel, and half running her hands in her hair some more, making sure there weren't going to be knots and feeling all too at ease.

"You were singing."

Annie leapt around, gasping.

Abed stood near the kitchen, pointing at the bathroom sheet, "You don't normally sing in the shower."

Annie frantically covered herself better, "Abed!"

He didn't seem at all concerned though, that she was standing there, in nothing but a towel, and dripping wet. "Do you normally refrain from singing or was this just a one-time thing?" he stared at her intensely then, as though something had just occurred to him, "Did the Glee club get to you?"

But she _was_ concerned, "What happened to your- video game- thing?" she hissed, flustered. And yet she was still standing there, water soaking the floor beneath her feet.

"Troy and I are at a stalemate," Abed said candidly, easily sidetracked, "We can't decide whether or not we need a Wii console or an X-Box 360. I came back to ask your opinion."

Annie pushed back the wet hair from her face, "I don't care-," she told him, and at that moment she really didn't. Honestly she thought the money should go to buying a new bathroom door, but it wasn't her call, since it wasn't her money.

And since they had had to pawn the last one off to cover rent before she had moved in, they had been working on saving money day and night to get a new one. She'd remembered Troy that first week on withdrawals. It hadn't been fun.

"It's a serious decision in our lives Annie," Abed continued quickly, "Buying a gaming console will forever change the dynamic of this apartment, and since you live here, your opinion on the subject is necessary."

"Wait, how will it change the dynamic of the apartment?" Annie asked, surprised and suddenly a little wary as she pushed her hair back.

When Troy and Abed had first discussed buying a video game player, thing, it had been hours and hours of research, and long conversations that Annie often tuned out. She hadn't thought much of it, or she had had studying to get to. Obviously it was a serious decision to them, but, it would change the apartment? She didn't know how she felt about that.

"Well, I could start with the possibility of video game addiction," Abed tilted his head as he spoke, "I have less than a fourteen percent chance of becoming addicted, since I know when to stop, and because I'm more interested in finding loop holes and completing miscellaneous quests over long periods of time. You and Troy on the other hand-."

Annie had to stop him, frowning, "Wait, what'd you mean me and Troy? Troy and I. Troy and me." Grammar was harder right now, for some reason.

"Troy has a forty three percent chance. Don't tell him I told you that, but he is more competitive than I am. It's the jock side of him and since he hasn't been playing for a while, he has the possibility of diving right back in and never coming out." It sounded more like Abed was saying "the dark side" instead of "the jock side" when he said it, as though being a jock held a negative connotation, "And you," he looked her up and down, "You would be the worst. You have a seventy nine percent chance, but Troy and I are willing to intervene if it becomes too much of a problem."

Annie didn't understand, "Why do I have the highest percentile? I don't even play video games."

"Because you like to be the best at everything," Abed said matter-of-factly, tilting his head the other way, "You really like having more gold stars than anyone else, and, that happens a lot in video games."

"What does?" she interjected.

"Getting gold stars," he answered, without missing a beat, "It could consume you, and make you an entirely different person. But, we're willing to risk it. Once classes start in the Fall, you would be centered on school again, and we wouldn't have to worry about it as much anymore."

Annie was perturbed. She had no idea video games could be addicting. She looked to the floor, thinking of her high school days, and wondering if they had rehabs for video game addictions.

"So, the Wii, or the X-Box?" Abed asked her, catching her off guard, "The X-Box has more competitive games, but the Wii is more your style-."

"Neither," she said without thinking, and then looked up, horrified, "No, sorry, um-."

She hadn't meant to sound so- so, selfish. This was something Troy and Abed had thought about for a long time- well, a long time for Troy, at least, and they had put more effort into it than they did into most of their homework assignments-.

"Interesting," Abed cut her off mid stutter with a nod. He turned, making for the door.

"Wait!" she cried, and he stopped, rotating around and cocking his head at her. Bashful, she said, "Get whatever gaming-thingy you want. I don't mind," she smiled half heartedly.

His dark eyes were calculating, but he didn't say anything. He just turned on the spot and headed for the door. As he opened it, he paused, "You should sing in the shower more often," he noted.

Annie blinked, taken aback as a blush crept up her cheeks.

"Also you should get dressed. You could get sick, and Troy and I will be back soon," Abed looked at the ceiling, before adding, "No Terminator pun intended."

Annie looked down at herself. She was still in her fuzzy towel, now almost dry, talking to Abed about video games.

The door closed abruptly.

And he was gone, leaving a rather speechless Annie wondering why she was still standing there, blushing at a compliment-, no, a statement? from Abed.

But now instead of being relaxed, she was worried.

Video games seemed much more distressing with Abed's warning than she had originally considered.

She looked online, researching, and discovered that Abed wasn't lying, that getting addicted to video games was a very serious problem. If it meant winning titles and, and gold stars, like Abed had said, it sounded appealing.

More appealing than she could afford.

What if because of these video games she didn't go back to school, that she stayed home and did nothing but play? There were serious problems with aggression, and, eating disorders, and developmental issues- and she didn't know if she could handle it.

She wanted to text Troy and Abed, and beg them to not bring back a video game player, thing, but, she didn't. That wouldn't be fair. They had been so nice to let her live in their apartment, and she didn't think that she could ruin their summer like that for them.

So she sat, anxious, worried about the magical draw of video games, until she decided firmly that whenever Troy and Abed played a video game, that she would go hide in her room. Even if that meant not coming out for days.

Pictures of gaming controllers and boxes started to freak her out, so she firmly got off the internet and promptly picked up her book, where she allowed herself to get lost in characters and try and forget about the evil device coming home with the guys.

Later that day, much later than she would have thought, Troy and Abed came back.

Empty handed.

Annie looked up from the last pages of her book as the guys entered, looking deflated.

"What happened?" she wanted to know, putting the book down on the couch and standing up.

"We decided against a gaming console," Abed stated plainly.

"Yeah," Troy sighed, and then, stated aggravated, "They're really expensive!"

Annie frowned- that sounded, a lot like Troy acting. Why would Troy be acting?

"Not to mention games can cost sixty dollars apiece," added Abed, looking to Troy.

Troy nodded, "And buying other controls costs a lot, so we all wouldn't even get to play together."

"And buying online services for a year can get pretty spendy," Abed looked at Annie now, and she understood.

They weren't not buying the video games because they were expensive, because she knew that they had saved up for this and had probably talked over all of the costs, but because of her.

And she felt happiness bubble up inside of her. Abed held up a rented movie DVD case, "So we decided we'd just watch a movie tonight instead."

Annie looked from one, to the other, and grinned at them, before jumping up grabbing them both, hugging them tight. "Thank you!"

Abed patted her back awkwardly as Troy embraced her.

"You're welcome, Annie."

"Besides, if you turned into a gamer who would clean the bathroom?" Troy wanted to know.

"I thought you said I make it smell girly," Annie said, pulling away with her hands on her hips.

"You do," Abed said blankly.

Troy nudged him, then grinned broadly at Annie, "But in a good way."

"Aww, you guys!" she pulled them in for another hug.

"Should we watch the movie?" Troy asked, sounding like all the breathe had been squeezed from his lungs.

"Sure! I'll make us some popcorn," Annie declared, twirling her way into the kitchen.

She couldn't have been happier.

She had the best friends in the world, she decided as she put the popcorn in the microwave.

Later, as they started up the movie, and Annie sat back and watched, she realized that though she had the best friends in the world, she, was the worst friend in the world.

She felt guilt gnawing at her.

The guys were really put out, even though the movie was pretty good, and they talked about what it would be like if they were stuck in the Hunger Games, and who would be the most likely person to win, and what if the study group all played. Even with all the 'what ifs' she could tell they were unhappy. They weren't even motivated about her idea of Pierce as President Snow when they couldn't place who he would be in the show. In fact it made her feel mean when she said it out loud without them laughing with her.

Oh no, what had she done?!

They weren't as enthusiastic as they should have been throughout the entire thing, Abed not even mentioning the way they interpreted thematics into the scenes, and at the end, instead of immediately insisting that they play some form of something or other to do with the Hunger Games, they went directly to bed, without passing go, or collecting $200.

And it was her fault, she realized, biting her lip and shutting off the lights after telling the boys a half hearted, "Good night!"

Crawling into her own bed, she looked up at her ceiling, and wondered if the apartment's dynamic had already been ruined, and it hadn't been the video games; it had been her.

~Annie – Two Days Later ~

"So, are you guys going out?" Annie asked, breaking the awkward silence as the trio ate their breakfast together in their pajamas.

It had been awkward all morning- no, not awkward.

Depressed.

And it was thick in the air.

Annie didn't know how to handle it. The last time this had happened was when she had stopped them from their Kickpuncher marathon by asking them to go get frozen yogurt with her.

Troy had complained the whole time about not being able to call frozen yogurt ice cream, because it tasted _just like_ ice cream, and Abed had been so out of it he had barely spoken other than to bring up Kickpuncher references over, and over again. But that had only lasted thirty two minutes, after she had decided that it wasn't worth finishing her yogurt if it was going to cause them that much heart ache.

This depressed silence had lasted for nearly two days now.

And she didn't know how to handle it anymore.

"Yeah," Troy said indifferently, "We're going down to an arcade."

"Yep," Abed nodded, and even his normal monotone was off.

This was all her fault, Annie knew. If she hadn't said no to the gaming console idea out loud to Abed, then they wouldn't have to go to an arcade. They could have stayed right there and played video games, with her. They'd be happy right now, instead of barely eating breakfast.

They left her there, and she decided that this couldn't go on any longer.

Because even if she got addicted, it wasn't fair to them. They deserved to play video games without having to pay 50 cents a pop, at midnight if they wanted to- in their pajamas, or in Inspector Spacetime gear!

So, since she couldn't stand it one moment longer, she hopped on the internet as soon as the door snapped shut, even leaving the dishes in the sink.

This had priority.

~ Abed ~

"Tell me why again we didn't buy the X-Box?" Troy wanted to know after another round of Mortal Kombat on the old, dusty machine, whose red buttons stuck at in-opportune moments during a battle.

"Because I didn't want to descend into a darker timeline, and Annie getting addicted to video games would definitely not turn out well for the group," Abed said, sliding another two quarters into the slot.

Troy wasn't convinced, "Yeah but, we've been looking to buy an X-Box for months now."

"You were looking to buy an X-Box. I still hadn't made up my mind on whether or not I liked the Wii or the x-box more. You gonna play as Kano again?" Abed asked as he flicked through characters, trying to decide whether or not to be Goro or Liu Kang.

"No," Troy said sulkily, changing over to play as Johnny Cage. "Man I wish you hadn't sold yours to help pay for rent."

Yes. It had been hard. More hard for Troy than for Abed. He remembered that look on Troy's face. It had been so sad. But they had needed the rent, and it had been before Annie had started to chip in so it had had to be done. "Yeah, but if I hadn't, we wouldn't be living together. Goro or Kang?"

"Goro. He has four arms. And yeah, I know, but I miss playing video games at home instead of with elementary school kids," Troy glanced sideways at a few kids putzing around on another game.

"Yeah, I see your point."

"Then why don't we get an X-Box?" Troy complained, sounding like one of the kids next to them.

"We already talked about this," Abed said, trying not to sound annoyed, because this was Troy, and he never got annoyed with Troy, "Thirteen times."

"Yeah, I know, dark side stuff, whatever," Troy sulked, and started up the game.

Abed didn't understand why they were still talking about this after two days. It was obvious that having a video game console wasn't worth risking Annie and this optimum timeline. He had run the simulations over and over in his head, and he didn't think he would like gamer Annie. She would get mean, and vicious, and probably call everyone a n00b all the time, even outside of gamer world. He didn't understand why Troy couldn't see that.

He liked this Annie a lot. He liked that she wore her pajamas around the apartment with them now. He liked that she watched movie marathons with them, often getting more entangled in the romances than was necessary, and commenting on how the plotlines differed in books, but he didn't mind. He liked that she was a morning person. He liked that she made the bathroom smell like strawberries and on occasion jasmine flowers, and that she sung in the shower when nobody was around. He liked that she used bubblegum lip gloss, and that she made perfect blueberry muffins on Sunday mornings. He liked that even though she wasn't very good, she still played Inspector Spacetime with them. He liked that she studied even during the summer break. He liked that she pushed her hair out of her face when it wasn't twisted off her forehead, the way she twirled strands of it absentmindedly when she was thinking, and that in the mornings it was messy when she got out of bed. He liked-

"Dude, I'm totally kicking your trash!" Troy shouted joyfully, shaking Abed back to reality where his character was getting punched in the face repeatedly, the poor graphics and sound effects making it more poignant. Sometimes Abed wondered if he liked the old style of gaming better, due to its classic look and it's creativity even without modern technology and graphics.

But the game was almost over, so he didn't have much time to really consider it in his mind, and Troy took him down with an easy combination, sending Abed sprawling, six limbs and all, before Troy shrilled his triumph until the twelve year olds next to them were staring.

"What?" Troy demanded, getting up in their stunned faces until they ran off. "That's right! Suck _it_."

Abed hadn't lost so badly in a long time, not since he first played the game. But he was glad Troy was happy. He'd been sad for days. It threw off the apartment's complex. If Troy's happiness depended on them making weekly trips to the arcade because they couldn't have a gaming console, than Abed was happy to participate. They could spend here what they'd been saving for the game system.

And then Annie wouldn't be at stake. Because more than a lot of things, Abed liked to think about what he liked about Annie, and he didn't think there would be as many of those things he liked if they descended into a darker timeline.

That was an odd thought to cross his mind.

Abed blinked at it for a moment while Troy continued his victory dance.

Abed liked to think about what he liked about Annie. What did that mean?

"So, want to play again?" Troy asked him, grin still on his face.

"No," Abed said matter-of-factly, "I think we should go home."

That sobered Troy up some, but not much, "Alright. I like to leave on a high note."

They walked out of the arcade, Troy still swaggering at his win, and Abed still thinking about liking to think about Annie. She had been more on his mind lately, but he had chalked it up to the fact that she had moved into the apartment with them. But maybe that wasn't the case.

Troy shook him out of it by proposing that they rent another movie, since the Hunger Games had proved less than what Abed had expected, but he shouldn't have let himself get so enthralled with the hype. It often led to disappointment.

They went with a favorite of his – Jurassic Park. Which led to deciding what kind of dinosaur they would be. Which led to an idea about half dinosaur- half human races, and deciding whether a reptilian race would have been the more superior race if they had been allowed to develop, and what kind of weapons technology would they have developed. Which lead to walking and talking like dinosaurs. Which lead them to their front door.

Abed opened it with two fore-claws, croaking to Troy to enter. Troy croaked back, walking like a very convincing raptor into the room.

And there was Annie.

Standing, waiting for them, with a big grin on her face.

It stopped his and Troy's human dinosaur charade short, both standing up taller, blinking.

"Well," Annie smiled, looking at the floor, before glancing quickly to the TV. Abed's eyes followed her gaze, where he saw, to his surprise,-.

"Is that a Nintendo 64?" Abed asked, cocking his head at the gaming console that sat on the floor in front of the TV.

"What?" Troy looked over to the television, where sat the old, gray gaming console, surrounded by a rather large group of games.

Troy looked to Annie, and then back to the 64, then back to Annie, and then back to the 64, like he was watching an odd game of ping pong ball that was filling him with joy and making him giggle more and more loudly with every passing second to the point Abed was starting to wonder if he would explode on the spot. Which, for Troy, was not unusual.

"You- I-, how- when?"

"I, already set it up," Annie said bashfully, "I hope you like it."

She wasn't looking at Troy though.

She was looking at Abed.

He wasn't sure how to process, like he was stuck at 55%.

With a hoot of joy, Troy ran for the 64, "What game to play, what game to play- all so beautiful I could cry-," he declared as he buried his hands in games.

Troy rambled on in ecstasy in the background, but Abed remained rooted to the spot. He was looking at Annie, eyebrows furrowed.

"I know it's not an X-Box, or a Wii, but, I thought it would work, for now," she said to him, looking to the ground and scuffing her foot. "Until you, save up, like you said."

He pointed from the game console to her, "You bought that." Still processing. Only 67%.

"Yes," Annie twisted her mouth, "I'm sorry I couldn't afford another kind, but the reviews online were good, so, I thought it could work."

Abed noticed she was crossing her fingers where she thought he couldn't see.

He liked that she believed in crossing her fingers even though it was a superstition. Again with the likes… odd. And not helpful since he was still processing.

"It does more than work, Annie! It's beautiful!" Troy exclaimed, "Abed!" he came running up to them, holding a game in his face, "Abed- she got Star Fox!"

"Star Fox 64?" Abed cocked his head. "As in-."

"Do a barrel roll!" Which Troy promptly did, which made him hit a recliner. "I'm ok!" he declared, popping right up. "I'm ok!" he said to reassure Annie, who had started forward anxiously, "Ah, I've always wanted to play this!"

His voice was reaching soprano octaves in a sing song voice.

Abed looked to Annie again. This had been a good move on her part- it made Troy happier than he would have predicted.

"-and Star Wars Episode 1 Racer, and the Legend of Zelda! and Gauntlet, and Rush 2, and Indiana Jones! and Madden, and Super Smash Brothers! and Mickey's Speedway-."

"How many games did you get?" Abed inquired as Troy listed off, "Mortal Kombat 4! and – wait, why did you get Wheel of Fortune? And, Kirby?"

"I like Kirby," Abed said quickly to him. Troy shrugged at him, before going back to crow at the lot.

"Well, I didn't know what you guys liked," she shrugged, biting her lip, "So, I got a wide variety," she stepped a little closer to him, her eyes wide and very blue, "And, um, you guys don't need to be worried about me, um, becoming a video game addict. I think I can manage. Besides, I only got two controllers. So, I'll just watch." She sounded cheery, almost, like she wasn't afraid at all.

Abed squinted at her, unsure. He knew she was likely to go to a lot of trouble for a friend in need, but, he had said that she was likely to get addicted, which was a subject she was touchy on, since she had had to go to rehab back in high school. He hadn't expected her to retaliate like this. Sure, he'd expected extra good home cooked meals, which they had gotten two nights in a row now, and her letting them pick the movies without any of her input, which had happened, but to go all out and buy something that had a seventy nine percent chance of destroying her?

She was pretty awesome. And brave.

Processing complete.

"I have to say I underestimated you," he said aloud.

"Why thank you," she smiled with a half curtsey. And then she paused, "I think."

"Whenever Abed says he underestimated you it's a good thing," Troy said. He'd appeared next to them without making a noise. It startled Annie. Abed was unfazed. Troy was looking at him, grinning from ear to ear, "So, Star Fox 64, or Star Wars Episode 1 Racer?"

Abed was still looking at Annie.

"Star Wars."

"Wohoo!" Troy skipped over to the Nintendo 64. And then he skipped back, and kissed Annie on the cheek, who giggled and blushed before returning the way he'd come.

Abed furrowed his brow.

He thought that Annie had gotten over her obsession/crush with Troy two years ago when she had moved on to Jeff. Maybe not though, because that was how people responded to people they liked in television shows and movies. Or was he simply overanalyzing? And if so, why was he overanalyzing?

"What?" she wanted to know.

"Nothing," he said, automatically filtering what he was thinking about for the sake of the storyline, and going to join Troy by the TV.

He felt Annie staring after him, but he didn't respond to that either, thinking about how the camera was panning out, leaving Annie alone and confused just to the side of the stage.

And then she sneezed.

"Bless you," Troy and Abed said in unison, "Jinx, double jinx, triple jinx!"

Annie laughed, and then came to sit on Abed's armrest as Abed picked up a controller, and Troy started the game.

The graphics were old school, and Abed thought he liked them better that way.

Also, he liked this brave Annie, who was willing to risk addiction for her friends, and curl up on his armrest for hours watching them play and routing them both on, unbiased, which made for a bad cheerleader, but a good friend.

"Wait, where did you get the money for this?" Abed asked after they'd finished their first round.

"That money I was saving up to buy a new door?" she said hesitantly, hunching her shoulders up to near her ears.

"I thought we agreed we liked the sheet," Troy said over the repeative music.

"No, that was you," Abed said.

"Oh yeah," Troy nodded, before asking, "Another round?"

"I think Annie should play," Abed said, handing her his controller.

"What?" she held it awkwardly.

"We have to teach her sometime," Abed shrugged at Troy.

Troy agreed with a shrug.

Annie was looking at Abed in horror, "But, you said-."

"I didn't predict this would happen," Abed cut her off matter of factly, "Maybe you'll prove me wrong."

Annie sat straighter at that.

"And if not," Troy grinned wickedly, "We have a straight jacket."

"Wait," Annie was shaking her head in confusion, "What?"

"Nothing."

Troy and Abed did their handshake.

"Ready Annie?"

"No- how do you-?"

Abed grinned, imagining the camera panning away from their backs, _Nooow,… cut_.


End file.
